Net income for the quarter ended March grew to 6.46 billion yuan ($1.04 billion) from 4.04 billion yuan a year earlier, far above analyst estimates of 4.93 billion yuan.

Tencent’s revenue leapt 36 percent to 18.4 billion yuan ($2.95 billion). The division that includes the lucrative gaming business saw a 35 percent jump in revenue, boosted by success in sales of games for smartphones distributed over hugely popular mobile messaging app WeChat.